From: Dave Washburn (dwashbur@nyx.net)
Date: Fri Apr 20 2001 - 19:52:57 EDT
>
>
> Glen L Naftaniel schrieb:
>
> [snip]
>
> > Here is the letter:
> >
> > Many people say the NT was WRITTEN in Greek. [snip]
> > Linguists who have studied it out have almost unanimously
> > concluded that most of it was not originally in Greek. The
> > four "gospels" were originally written in Hebrew. This is
> > evidenced by the low linguistic quality of the Greek
> > manuscripts... [snip] It is also evidenced by the use of
> > Hebrew parables, figures of speech, idiomatic expressions...
>
>
> Hi Glen,
>
> While this is not a topic relevant to B-Greek... it is interesting
> nonetheless.
>
> The NT was written by people whose mother tongue was Hebrew.
Aramaic, actually. Hebrew was the language of the Scriptures and
the Synagogue, but despite attempts to prove otherwise, it appears
to have been a strictly religious language. The lingua franca of
Judea and Galilee was Aramaic, though with the Romans
occupying and all the trade with other nations, virtually everyone
was bilingual in Greek as well (Greek was the trade language of the
Roman Empire - do we suppose that Pilate and the centurions etc.
bothered to learn Aramaic?). Every so often somebody comes up
with a theory about the NT - or at least the gospels - being written
in Hebrew; it makes ripples for a while, then fades back into
obscurity where it belongs.
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
"You just keep thinking, Butch. That's what you're good at."
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